$100 in 1939 is worth $817 in 1987,
because prices increased 717.3% over that period, an average of
4.47% a year.
$100 in 1939 has
the same buying power as
$817
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
717.3%
Average inflation rate
4.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$817
Price difference ($100 base)
$717
CPI in 1939
13.9
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1939
-1.42%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1939 → 1987
$817
$100 in 1987 → 1939
$12.24
What happened to prices between 1939 and 1987
Between 1939 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 717.3%, which works out to an average of
4.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1939 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1987: the 1939 dollar
lost 87.8% of its purchasing power over
these 48 years.
Consumer prices fell 1.4% in 1939, closing out a decade in which the CPI
fell in six years and rose in four, leaving prices 18.7% below their
1929 level even after the mid-decade recovery. Measured
against the start of the CPI’s modern record, prices still stood 40.4%
above their 1913 level, a reminder that even a decade defined
by deflation left the cost of living well above where it had been a
generation earlier. The decade’s final months reset the economic picture
entirely. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, and Britain and France
declared war two days later; the United States stayed formally neutral
under the Neutrality Acts, but Allied orders for war materiel began flowing
to American factories almost immediately, a demand shock that would do more
to end the Depression over the next few years than any peacetime relief
program had managed. Domestic policy kept building on the New Deal’s
framework, too: the federal minimum wage rose to 30 cents an hour that
October, the second step in the schedule set by the 1938 Fair Labor
Standards Act. Amid it all, the New York World’s Fair opened April 30 in
Queens, themed “The World of Tomorrow” and drawing tens of millions of
visitors with exhibits on television and other technologies promising a
more prosperous decade than the one just ending. First-class postage held
at 3 cents.
Every 1939 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 8.17: $1,000 becomes
$8,173, and $10,000 becomes $81,727.
Amount in 1939
Value in 1987
$1.00
$8.17
$5.00
$40.86
$10.00
$81.73
$20.00
$163
$50.00
$409
$100
$817
$500
$4,086
$1,000
$8,173
$5,000
$40,863
$10,000
$81,727
$100,000
$817,266
$1,000,000
$8,172,662
Inflation by spending category, 1939–1987
Between 1939 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 1163.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 412.0%, against 717.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1939
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1939 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.47%
$817
Medical care
5.43%
$1,263
Food
4.83%
$962
Transportation
4.25%
$737
Apparel
3.46%
$512
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1939: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1939 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1939–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1939, at end
1939–1940
0.72%
0.7%
$101
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$173
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$213
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$279
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$593
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$817
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1939
$100 from 1939 had already become $220 by
1963, on its way to $817 in 1987; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 1.2% in 1949, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1987
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1939 had the buying
power of $817; the year's average CPI of 113.6 is the level
behind every 1987 figure on this page.
1987 tested whether the disinflation of the 1980s could survive its first
real shock. Paul Volcker, who had run the Federal Reserve since 1979 and
driven inflation down from 13.5% to routine mid-single digits, handed the
chairmanship to Alan Greenspan in August. Inflation for the year came in at
3.6%, edging up as the expansion entered its fifth year and a weaker
dollar, following 1985’s Plaza Accord, pushed up the price of imported
goods. Then, on October 19, the stock market delivered Greenspan’s first
crisis: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6% in a single session,
still the largest one-day percentage drop in its history, as computer-driven
“portfolio insurance” trading amplified a global sell-off that had started
days earlier. The Fed responded within 24 hours, publicly pledging to
supply whatever liquidity the banking system needed, and the panic did not
spread to the broader economy. Growth continued and unemployment kept
falling through the rest of the year. It was an early demonstration of what
became known as the “Greenspan put,” a Fed willing to move fast and loosen
policy to contain financial shocks even while still watching inflation,
that shaped central banking for the next two decades.
MLA: “Inflation from 1939 to 1987: $100 is worth $817 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1939 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1939-to-1987/